This entry is somewhat of an update to my other posts about lip balms, glosses, stains, and all that delicious stuff. Click here, and here to check them out!

Since that post, I’ve tried several lip balms, and the majority of them have not resulted in the gross post-surgery lips, as I tend to call them. Read on to find out what I’ve used, love, and other products I want to try!

While their products are catered moreso to guys, Jack Black makes a fabulous line of skin care products, and they also make lip balms. These give your lips somewhat of a glossy sheen, and the different varieties are very tasty combinations! I have tried two of their lip balms. Vanilla Lavender, and Grapefruit Ginger. Both of these were great, but I preferred the Vanilla Lavender. A great plus about these balms: most of them are gluten-free and fragrance-free! Other intriguing flavours include Lemon & Chamomile, and Black Tea & Blackberry. All their balms have SPF 25, and my lips absolutely adored them. They sell for $7.50 a piece on Jack Black’s website, or you can purchase a kit, such as their cleverly-named Balm Squad, for $25 (which includes FOUR of these goodies). Their website also displays the ingredients for each of the different lip balms.

I will definitely consider purchasing these again! Love, love, love!

For those who follow me on Instagram, you may have seen me pimping out Desert Essence’s lip balms. I first discovered their Tea Tree Oil Therapeutic Lip Balm, and was so excited to find a more affordable lip balm that agreed with my lips. They say this is good for cold sores and cracked lips. I can’t comment on the cold sores ( tea tree oil is antibacterial and healing, so that makes sense), but it definitely kept my lips moisturized and in a happy, healthy state. The second lip balm from Desert Essence that I’ve tried and loved (even more than the tea tree oil), was the Lip Rescue Moisturizing with Jojoba Oil. The smell is so refreshingly subtle, and it kept my lips so nice and moisturized. My boyfriend didn’t enjoy the tea tree oil lip balm, because it had a weird taste whenever he kissed me. And the jojoba lip balm was much more mild. It really comes down to personal preference with these products! I find tea tree oil very intense, so I like to switch it up between these two.

Vitacost had a sale on Desert Essence products, so last night I picked up FIVE of Desert Essence’s Lip Rescue Ultra Hydrating with Shea Butter lip balms, which I have not tried yet! Two for myself, and THREE for my boyfriend. They were a whopping $1.18 a piece – which totally blew my mind.

Desert Essence is a brand that has never let me down. I also see they sell lip tints (Vanilla Chai, anyone!?), if you’re looking for something with colour (I much prefer a nude lip on me) for $5.99 each! I can’t comment on whether they would work well on sensitive lips, but I’d say it’s worth a try!

There you have it – these are the winning lip products that I consider to be my favourites. There are others, however, that I feel deserve some level of honourable mention:

I did a review on the products from this awesome company. You can check that out here. These products are vegan, cruelty-free, and their assortment of flavours are to die for! Their collections include inspirations of Soda Pop, Fall, Tea, and – HOLY SHIT – a new holiday Gingerbread lip balm! At $3.49 a piece, they are quite wallet-friendly. Their collections expanded to include lip tints they call HibisKiss, which I have never tried, but would love to hear what people have to say about them.

I’ve yet to try this, but I have heard people rave about how well it keeps lips moisturized and healthy in the most intense conditions. It is gluten-free, and the ingredients include goodies like rosemary leaf oil, castor seed oil, and shea butter.

While it is relatively expensive (at $14 CAD per tube), the tube is significantly larger than most lip balm sizes (I’d say it is about double). The lavender in this balm soothes the lips like none other, and it is this lip balm that got my lips healed and back to fabulous after my first horrible reaction in early 2011.

I hope this has helped all of you out there with sensitive lips. You definitely don’t have to be limited to using your mother’s vaseline – there are plenty of options!

I know it’s been about a month since my last post, and I apologize. Unfortunately, a good excuse for not handing in papers and not studying for exams does not include spending my time making makeup and skin care reviews. Personally, I think reviewing these products is very important for my well-being. That is why I’m currently putting off working on a major research paper to make this update.

I bet you’re all curious! How are my lovely lips doing after that horribly swollen and miserable incident last February? I had mentioned several products I ordered from Sephora to help combat the swollen-lip demons that haunted me. They included the Pangea Organics Pyrenees Lavender with Cardamom Lipcare, and the Ole Henriksen Fresh Lips SPF 15. I was so excited to receive my order. It arrived roughly 2 weeks ago, and I’ve been using both products on a regular basis. First of all, I was surprised by the size of these lip products. They did cost 2-3 times more than a typical lip balm in a drug store. If you are uncertain as to what happens to my lips when I use cheap lip products, please refer to my previous entry.

The Pangea Organics lip balm comes in a tube that includes .25 ounces, or 7 grams of product. It is almost twice the size of a typical lip balm tube! The ingredients are extremely natural, and the product is also gluten-free! The smell of the product is very calming and natural; you can really smell the lavender. Here are some of the ingredients found in this product: sunlflower seed oil, jojobal oil, cannabis sativa hemp seed oil, blood orange oil, lavender oil, aloe vera gel, and other awesome stuff. There is no ingredient on the product list that I cannot pronounce, and it seems that the bulk of it is made up of organic essential oils, plus shea butter and beeswax. I find this lip product goes on so smooth, and unless I am eating or drinking, I do not need to re-apply it for several hours. It absorbs into my lips very nicely, doesn’t taste bad(it happens!) and keeps them moisturized all day long. It doesn’t give me much shine, but more of a matte finish. Great product, and I’d recommend this for sensitive lips! I just wish I was able to find it locally. I’ll do another update when I’ve had the product for awhile longer.

Ole Henriksen is a great, albeit expensive natural brand. I also have a facial scrub by them that I absolutely adore; I’m sure you’ll hear more of my opinions on that in a later entry. Now, onto the Fresh Lips product. This is more of a gloss, than a balm. It gives a glossy sheen to your lips, isn’t sticky, and contains camphor, and menthol, which really gives a nice cooling sensation when you apply it. It also, however, contains petrolatum, which is a lubricant commonly used for anything from diaper rash to chapped lips (also known as vaseline!). Depending on your thoughts on petrolatum-based products and whether it is more harmful than helpful, you may or may not want to try this product. Here is some more information on petrolatum, in case you’re interested. If you’ve read my previous entry, you know how vaseline played a key role in the healing of my sensitive lips, along with Polysporin. I’m aware these products are not manufactured in the most ethical of ways, but they work so well for me. If there are any comparable alternatives, I’d like to hear about them. It also contains salicylic acid, which I’ve never seen in a lip product before. I don’t usually break out on my lips, but I guess you never know! Other ingredients include cocoa seed butter, and candelilla wax.

Despite some of the potentially questionable ingredients, I love what the product does for my lips. It is a lip treatment, and gloss all in one, plus it provides SPF. The size of this product is also a decent size. It contains 14 grams or .5 ounces of product inside the tube. I hope it continues to be loved by my lips!

Between these two lip products, I’d have to say I prefer the one by Pangea Organics, but only because of the quality and organicness(here we go, making up words again!) of the ingredients. Some days I am in the mood for a balm, and other days I’d like something more glossy. I also feel more confident with the ethics of Pangea Organics, which is reflected in this product, and the way they present themselves. I’ll be sure to try their other lip balms!

As I was waiting for these two lovely products to arrive, I picked up a lip balm at the Natural Food Pantry(can you tell how much I *love* lip products?!). It is called Honey Bunny Buzz Balm. It cost me $3.99 + tax, so it was completely affordable. I got the Spearmint scent (love that tingly mint!). While the product amount isn’t as much as the previous two products (4.3 grams), it is 1/3 of the price and your standard sized lip balm, which is good enough for me. One top of being organic, it has such a lovely mint scent, and it contains my favourite ingredient ever, organic coconut oil! Other ingredients include jojoba seed oil, spearmint leaf oil, aloe vera leaf, and others. The list of ingredients is pleasantly short. It lasts relatively long, and gives a pretty subtle sheen to your lips. The availability of this product is better for me, since I can go out and buy it locally.

I hope you guys take the time to check out these great items. My attention has also been shifted to another ethical(and vegan) line of products, and that would be the Crazy Rumours lip balms! I have yet to try any of these, but I definitely like the idea of the tea scented flavours, as well as the lemon-scented ones. Thank you, Alicia, for telling me about these guys. I will definitely check them out! At $3.99 per balm, they are worth it to try.

I was very excited this past Friday when I got home. I had purchased the Sephora’s Give Me Some Lip lip gloss sampler that includes TWO full size lip glosses, plus 8 smaller sample sizes. It ran for $33 Canadian, and that would be the cost of the 2 full size products alone! What a steal! I also purchased the Laura Mercier Lip Silk.

If any of you know me, you know I am obsessed with lip balms, scrubs, glosses, primers. All things lip. The problem: my lips seem to flare up and seem to look post-surgical whenever there are products it doesn’t agree with. Unfortunately, this happens more than I’d like. I am currently packing a pout that would make any supermodel or cosmetic surgery junkie jealous. Reality is, I am no supermodel; I would never have cosmetic surgery, and I want my normal lips back! Here is a glimpse of the horrors that are currently my lips to the left. It may not look that bad, but my top lip is twice its usual size, and I have been putting coconut oil on them as that seems to be the only product my lips will deal with right now. To the right are my lips in a happier, healthier state. The pictures are two days apart, actually.

I hope my sensitive lips aren’t a genetic thing, because out of the sampler I gave my mother 2 different glosses right after I bought it.

If anyone is interested in purchasing or swapping me for any of these lip products, you can visit my Makeup Alley Swap Page. My username is orchidally if you need to find me!

I have yet to figure out exactly what ingredient is causing this. What is certain, however, is that I wasn’t aware just how sensitive my lips are and how unnatural and packed with crap these glosses are.

The Laura Mercer Lip Silk practically saved my lips last winter, after a flare up when using Clinique’s atrocity Super Balm. I did take a look at the ingredients on LM’s Lip Silk, and it also leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Mineral oil, parabens, hydrogentated butyl-whatever.. That can’t be good. The only ingredient that sounds fun and healthy is apple extract. Hmm, by apple do they mean the apple that we all know and love? Or is “apple extract” some technical term for battery acid?

Alas, I found myself on Sephora’s website late last night; I was searching for something that would make my lips happy, and at the same time have ingredients that I could pronounce. I placed an order for Ole Henriksen’s Fresh Lips, which is a part of Sephora’s natural company line. Their ingredients include things like Vitamin E, Cocoa Butter, Licorice Extract.. none of which I saw contained in the LM Lip Silk, or in the sampler products. The second product I ordered was Pangea Organics Pyrenees Lavender With Cardamom Lipcare. Pangea Organics has a great name in the organic market, and I am eager to finally try their products out. As for Ole Henriksen, I adore many of their products. I will be sure to do a full review of both products after I have used them long enough.

You may think my lip adventure ends here. I begrudgingly went to work today with peeling, dry, and perpetually pouty lips. A friend suggested I apply Polysporin Complete onto my lips, and they will be back to glam in no time. I arrived home later that evening, and recall my friend’s suggestion. First I exfoliated my lips with my sample of Lush’s Sweet Lips Lip Scrub, and then I applied a thin layer of Polysporin. My lips looked nice and moisturized and certainly felt okay… tingling began.. and further tingling.. and before I realized it my lips had gone completely numb! Yes, that is right folks! I could not feel them one bit. Try explaining to your mother this scenario when you can barely get a proper word out because your lips feel like they’ve just been injected with novocaine! I gently wiped off the Polysporin, and applied a bit of Vaseline. I am not usually a fan, but damn, was I desperate.

And here I sit, with lips that feel pretty damned decent considering all they have been through the past few days. The numbness completely disappeared after about 20 minutes; while I feel like I may just have the most sensitive lips ever, I think my lips and I are going to be a-okay.